Poor Performance in Implementation Mike Rickman CS524 – Software Engineering Azusa Pacific University Dr. Sheldon X. Liang

Performance Problems Performance Time required to perform necessary tasks How can there be performance problems Fast, inexpensive hardware Optimized software Fast Networks

Performance Problems The system simply cannot operate fast enough The slowest things computers do: Talk to external storage Talk to people “Huge” problem Database transactions Number of users

Reliability Problems For Hopper Specialty Company it’s difficult to decide which was worse Performance Reliability Are reliability and performance problems related? Reboots Cancelation Jitter Finger

Hopper Specialty Company Distributor of Industrial Hardware Supplier to Oil & Gas drilling companies Thousands Inventory Items Estimated $3.5 million annual sales Purchased NCR’s Warehouse Manager system $180K purchase price Tracks “huge” inventory Pricing Automatic order points Instant Invoicing Had over 200 successful installations

NCR’s Warehouse Manager What it really was NCR suspended sales of Warehouse Manager Working out “critical bugs” Inadequate testing Warehouse Manager ported to NCR operating system Original software from Taylor Management Designed for Burroughs Operating System 200 Successful installations on Burroughs OS Forty failed installations on NCR OS

NCR’s Warehouse Manager Deadly Embrace System slows to a crawl Long lines of customers waiting Operations expected in seconds takes minutes Two terminals accessing same data Silent Death Solution to Deadly Embrace LogOff - LogOn Corrupted data resulted Twenty to thirty restarts per day

Hopper’s Demise Incorrect Pricing $17 / ft. item became $30 / ft. Incorrect Inventory Show 50 items on hand when 50 items needed to ordered Lost Business $350K annual contract cancelled

Hopper’s Demise Insult to Injury NCR claimed other customer did not have problems Several similar complaints documented at NCR Blamed Hopper’s employees for failures Not properly trained Stocking Static Defense NCR employee blamed problems on static electricity from a workers nylon stockings

Result NCR purchased by AT&T Global Information Systems Warehouse Manager Abandoned AT&T admits problems Hopper sues Past statue of limitation Restrictive Sales Agreement Arbitration Computer Ethics 101

Implementation Personal Experience The difference between software engineer and software architect Automated Test Equipment Computer LED Driver Optical Spectrometer Data Acquisition Data Storage Configuration Processing Algorithms

Implementation Personal Experience Software Engineer View Test Operator One Button Test

Implementation Personal Experience Software Architect View I O M Software Architect View Installation O M Software Architect View Installation Operation M Software Architect View Installation Operation Maintenance

Implementation Personal Experience Software Architect View Installation Software Installation Power Requirements Environmental Conditions Calibration Operation Identify Sensor from job traveller Specify lot number Place sensor in fixture Start Process Determine Pass/Fail Maintenance Calibration

Questions? Reference Glass, Robert Software Runaways Upper Saddle River, NJ 1998